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Canada has always been a country struggling to define itself. For decades, we’ve prided ourselves on being not American, on our politeness, multiculturalism, and peacekeeping efforts. However, things become murky beyond the stereotypes when we dig deeper into what it means to be Canadian. We lack a clear, cohesive national identity. Everyone here is a hyphenated Canadian:
Italian-Canadian, Chinese-Canadian, Indigenous-Canadian, etc.
I’ve occasionally referred to myself as Irish-Canadian. My family arrived in 1904. I’ve been to Ireland once, and my experience included being poisoned with world-class laxatives by an Irish cousin.
I’m as Irish as Irish Charms, and they are just sugar bombs that play on Irish cliches.
Rarely do you hear someone just call themselves Canadian, as if that alone isn’t enough. It begs the question: what, if anything, ties us all together?
We seem to deny unified cultural norms and the idea that all cultural norms are equal.
While multiculturalism is often seen as a success—it allows diverse cultures to thrive without fear of oppression or assimilation—it also means that we lack a singular national story. There’s no shared Canadian mythology that we all buy into. Instead, we have a patchwork of different narratives that rarely intersect. Sure, we celebrate multiculturalism, but it leaves us with a sense that Canada is a country of pieces rather than a whole.
Sociologist Jeffrey G. Reitz has argued that multiculturalism, while celebrated, can foster isolation between communities, leading to fragmentation rather than unity. This isn’t to say we should abandon multiculturalism, but we must recognise its drawbacks. In focusing on celebrating our differences, we may have forgotten the importance of cultivating what binds us together.
As a result, Canada often feels more like a collection of separate worlds existing under the same flag rather than a single, cohesive nation.
Take, for example, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement that Canada is a “post-national” state, as reported by Maclean’s in 2015. Trudeau implied that Canada has moved beyond needing a national identity and that we are too enlightened to care about such things.
But instead of coming across as progressive, it felt like a hollow admission that we no longer know who we are. It’s almost as if being nationalistic—even in a positive, unifying sense—is something we’re embarrassed by.
Perhaps one of the most troubling aspects of modern Canadian identity is our tendency towards self-loathing. It’s a rather poor substitute for positive, unifying cultural values.
Canada has a long history of acknowledging its mistakes, and in some ways, that’s a good thing. Lately, however, this acknowledgement has morphed into something more sinister—a deep-seated self-hatred where we seem to think that the more ashamed we are of our history, the more virtuous we become.
Self-criticism is not a sport.
Moreover, PM Trudeau has called Canada a “genocidal nation” because of our treatment of Indigenous peoples, particularly in the context of residential schools. Yes, the historical injustices are horrific, and yes, we need to confront them.
In constantly framing ourselves as guilty, we risk paralysing our national conversation, drowning it in guilt rather than progress. It becomes less about learning from our past and more about using our guilt as a badge of moral superiority.
If you ask Canadians what makes them proud of their country, they often answer, “We’re not American”. We cling to this notion that simply not being something else is a point of pride. We’re polite and peaceful, and we don’t shoot each other in the streets—traits often contrasted with our southern neighbours' more contentious, individualistic nature.
But what are we left with beyond the “we’re not American” narrative? Is the only thing that unites us the fact that we have universal healthcare and less gun violence? These are good things but aren’t enough to define an entire nation.
When we think of uniquely Canadian things, we come up with hockey, Tim Hortons, and politeness. But these are surface-level identifiers. They’re not the stuff of national identity. Can hockey be the cornerstone of what it means to be Canadian in the 21st century? Does drinking double-doubles and saying sorry too much define our culture?
The New York Times humorously commented that Canadians are sometimes “apologetically apologetic”—a good-natured jab that’s too true for comfort. Our politeness has become such a defining characteristic that it borders on caricature.
One could argue that Canada doesn’t need a national identity at all. Perhaps in an era of globalisation, where people are increasingly connected by shared interests rather than geographic borders, a national identity is outdated. But even if we don’t need a rigid identity, we still need something that binds us together as a people.
Every nation has its challenges, but most have some core beliefs, traditions, or set of values that they rally around. Canadians used to rally around the idea of being a peacekeeping nation, but even that is fading as we struggle to assert ourselves internationally. As reported by The National Post, Canada’s peacekeeping efforts have dwindled significantly in the last two decades. We no longer have that same presence in global affairs that once gave us a sense of purpose.
The lack of a strong, unified identity means many Canadians retreat into their ethnic sanctuaries, where they feel a stronger sense of belonging. It’s easier to identify with a clear-cut cultural background than with the vague notion of what it means to be Canadian.
This retreat into ethnic identity isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Diversity is a strength in some situations, but it’s morally neutral, just the statement of differences. But, Canada’s multiculturalism has allowed different communities to flourish without the pressure to assimilate.
However, when ethnic identity becomes the primary way people define themselves, it leaves little room for a unified national culture to develop.
Other countries manage to balance ethnic diversity with a strong national identity—look at Australia or even the United States—but in Canada, the pendulum has swung so far towards ethnic self-identification that it’s hard to say what unites us all.
So, what is Canadian identity? Is it just hockey and politeness, a post-national state that’s too virtuous to care about such things? Is this lack of identity why we treat self-criticism as a virtue?
Or is there something deeper that we’ve lost sight of? It’s time to redefine what it means to be Canadian beyond the ethnic silos in which we live and the endless apologies for our past. We need to find common ground, not by erasing diversity but by embracing the things that bind us as a nation.
Because if being not American is all we have, then we don’t have much at all.
Maybe a Canadian team can win the Stanley Cup this year, too.
If you believe in the importance of free speech, subscribe to support uncensored, fearless writing—the more people who pay, the more time I can devote to this. Free speech matters. I am a university professor suspended because of a free speech issue, so I am not speaking from the bleachers. The button below takes you to that story if you like.
Please subscribe and get at least three pieces /essays per week with open comments. It’s $5 per month and less than $USD 4. I know everyone says hey, it’s just a cup of coffee (with me, not per day but just one per month), but if you’re like me, you go, “Hey, I only want so many cups of coffee!” I get it. I don’t subscribe to many here because I can’t afford it.
But I only ask that when you choose your coffee, please choose mine. Cheers.
